First attempt - diving diver

Dave Diefenderfer

Dave Diefenderfer

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A few weeks ago, I saw some video on FB of a bunch of Canvasbacks up on the Great Lakes. They were in a feeding frenzy, and the motion was none stop. I got thinking of how to create that in a decoy?

I started with a Homer diver body and some pink foam. I removed the keel and keel weight first. Then shaped some foam and glued it on.




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I then restle coated and painted.


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Then it was time to do some weighting and balancing. I bored a hole in the breast well into the body at an angle. I glued and inserted a PVC pipe in the hole. This was "pinned" in with the eye screw for the anchor line.

I then proceeded to add bow weight. I cut some keel weights in half and glued/screwed them to the PVC pipe, and filled the front end of the pipe with steel shot.


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I was able to try it this past weekend.... It needs more weight, but it shows some promise. I was hoping it would bob up and down, and it sort of did?

See attached video!



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interesting idea; and first efforts look promising. Looks especially good in the video with a little wave action, probably not so good with no wind at all. The white side movement is almost like a miniature flag. A lot of them might really get the ducks attention!
 
My best "bobbers'' were weighted in the front and back vs the weight. Distributing the mass to opposite ends should destabilize the decoy and make it more active on the water.
 
Good morning, Dave~


Fine job! I agree with Sandy that a few of those "flagging" in the rig should add all the right sense of action. Congrats to your R&D crew!


All the best,


SJS

 
RLLigman said:
Dave, what do you think about rigging these on a longline as a jerk string?
Click to expand...

Since the season Is now over, I have put away all the decoys and have moved onto the others in process. I added another 12 oz to the bow on the diver, and will test it a basin in a few days.

Rick, as far as using these on jerk string..... that gets complicated. For divers, we typically hunt from a boat blind, in VA, more than 400yrds from any licensed blinds. We run a bow anchor and stern post system and frequently disconnect to recover birds (tides/winds) if we are not hunting with a dog. The mechanics of setting up a jerk string that would be recoverable is something we have not noodled out yet, but it is in the though process!
 
Run a baited line off anchor line . Use a small Danforth for anchor. Let the rockfish make it dip and dive! Double duty... Of course than you might have to rebait after retrieving shot birds.LOL.
 
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Stay tuned for rev 2! I found that I just could not get an adequate amount of weight forward, and was pulling the decoy deeper and actually making it more stable. So I removed all the weight, and installed a new tube last night. It is now aligned with the keel, and is long. I will play with weight vs length next to see if I can get what I need without making it either too heavy, or too cumbersome.
 
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